EpiloguE Lincoln actually won the Illinois popular vote in the 1858 Senate election. The legislature however was a Democratic majority with many Illinois legislators voting against the popular vote. Thus Lincoln lost his bid for the United States Senate. Lincoln went back to his legal practice in Springfield. He was soon recruited by the Republican Party to run for President of the United States – which he won by a plurality vote against Douglas, Beckenridge, and Bell. Interestingly Stephen Douglas became good friends with Lincoln; and Lincoln consulted him frequently at the White House after his presidency began. Douglas died of complications of typhoid fever June 3, 1861. Douglas’s legacy lives on today nationally with his vital Congressional legislation of the 19th Century and in Illinois – donating the land which became ultimately The University of Chicago. Lincoln’s presidential legacy is well known with his death coming at the hands of John Booth and a Southern conspiracy of eight men. Lincoln had remarked during the Prairie Fire Illinois debates of 1858, in doing so it suggested that Douglas was more like him than unlike him. Lincoln also felt Douglas was morally opposed to slavery – a key fact not elicited publicly during the Prairie Fire debates. The 150 year anniversary of these debates occurred in 2008 with parades and events at the participating Illinois communities. Every four years a new United States President is elected where the Prairie Fire debates of Lincoln and Douglas are discussed and referenced. The pomp and circumstance, issue discussions, and historical importance of the 1858 Illinois Senate seat debates will probably never be repeated. The Lincoln Douglas debates for the Illinois Senate seat remain the gold standard for political debate in the United States. As such they were a true “Prairie Fire “spreading throughout Illinois. © 2009 - Sportademics.com
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